july2021 - 15

THE MILLENNIAL ADVISOR
Dress Code 1,2,3
GARRETT WAGNER, CPA
CEO/Founder, C3 Evolution Group
garrett.wagner@cpapracticeadvisor.com
No matter what your generation,
we all can remember those mornings
getting dressed for school, and
now, those of us who are parents,
see another side of that situation.
Luckily for all of us, once we got
jobs in the workplace, we still had
to dress to impress, but the modern
" business casual " provided a pretty
flexible range of workplace attire.
Gone were the days of suits and
dresses, like we have all re-lived
through Mad Men. In the accounting
landscape we also tended to avoid
the super casual workplace scene
DO YOU REMEMBER back when you were a kid getting dressed for school and you would
on many, and I do mean many occasions " freak out " on your parents about what you
could wear to school? Sometimes the logic was sound, you wanted to dress to impress,
other times your logic was flawed. That color itches, those pants are not comfy enough,
or you just had to wear shorts in the middle of winter.
of shorts and flip flops. After all we
were the most trusted advisors and
trusted advisors don't wear flip flops,
at least most of them don't.
Our dress code at work at
the most basic level is all about
representing the brand our firm
organization team culture portrays.
The dress code is the external visual
show case of what you stand for and
what makes the organization and
you unique to those you interact
with. The nice thing about this,
unlike many other subtle social
cues or non-verbals, is that attire
is rarely misunderstood. For most
people a suit is a suit, and most
people don't draw the distinction
between a $10,000 and $1,000 suit.
Whereas the line between suit and
tie, business casual, and flip flops is
large and distinctive.
Given this, we all have had to
adjust to working remotely and the
line between business casual and
flip flops gets greyer by the day. After
all, on a " zoom call " you can wear
shorts and flip flops since no one
sees them. But what does your top
half show and represent and is your
new virtual working attire sending
the right message?
THE RIGHT MESSAGE
As we talked about before, your
attire either in the office, working
from home, or on a virtual meeting
isn't just about you being comfy.
The goal at the granular level for
any organization is that your attire
represents the brand and its culture.
Your culture is what makes your
organization unique and different
from everyone else around and
many articles have been written at
length about the value and purpose
of culture so we won't re-tell those
stories here, you can just go and read
prior issues of this magazine, trust
me. As you move into a post covid
world, now is a great time to think
about your dress code and make sure
it aligns with your culture to drive
true success.
DRESSING THE
MESSENGERS
Now when it comes to dress code
in the workplace, you cannot fall
back to one single answer; you need
alignment. This means before you
take a generic workplace and virtual
meeting policy you find online and
deploy it where you work, stop and
think about where you actually
work. Answer this question instead:
What makes you unique? Do
you seek to be the best, the most
customer friendly, or the most
economical provider?
The answer to that question will
help you draft your new dress code
policy and actually take a successful
step to align your culture and
behavior of your team members.
Each of those three options represent
drastically different cultures,
all of which can be highly successful
with different dress codes, both in
person and virtually. Your goal is
to match the two together, just like
making sure your kids don't go to
school with polka dot neon pants
and a non-matching top.
THREE BUCKETS
■ Best: If this was your answer, then
your dress code both in person and
virtually will benefit from being
more formal. Think about that highend
restaurant or the high-end car
dealer; the dress matches the high
price tag and strives to be the best.
■ Customer Friendly: For those who
picked this one, you will want to
continue to maintain a certain
level of business casual attire in all
situations to keep your brand strong
and formal for the professional
level of work we do. Focus on not
dressing too fancy for your clients,
but instead showing them how you
can be trusted and depended on.
■ Economical: In this area, customers
look to you for a consist product
at a great value across everyone
on the team. For those whom this
culture describes, your dress code
will shine with consistent styles and
color choices. The consistency helps
customers feel valued and that they
are getting the same level of service
no matter whom they work with.
As we all adjust to working
more virtually, now is not the time
to ditch the idea of business casual
and just give in to wearing t-shirts;
now is the time to focus on success
and growth. With this one small step
you can help provide better direction
to those in your organization and
actually take a major step in aligning
your culture and actions, a step for
guaranteed success. ■
JULY 2021 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
15
http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
july2021

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